Derby County return for 'absolute colossus' heralded as the 'glue' in John Eustace's squad - exit fear raised | OneFootball

Derby County manager John Eustace will be delighted to have the Norway international back.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Derby County finally have centre-back Sondre Langas back fit and available for John Eustace to select after recovering from injury.

Prior to his return against Norwich City last week, the last time the Rams saw the 24-year-old in action was against Stoke City on the final day of last season.

Langas was playing through knee pain towards the end of last term, and over the summer had surgery to correct the issue, which delayed his return to action for the start of the current campaign.

Despite that, he was still able to make 14 appearances for the Rams in the second half of last season, starting 13 of those as he instantly carved out a key role in Derby's team.

We asked our Derby fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, how important it is to have the Norway international back in the fold.

"He's got a bit of everything" - Sondre Langas' importance to Derby County revealed

Speaking to Football League World, we asked Shaun: 'Just how good is it to have Sondre Langas back fit? Just how important a player is he for the Rams and John Eustace?'

Shaun said: “It's no coincidence in the one-and-a-half games Langas has played, we've not conceded a goal, and we've accumulated six points from back-to-back home wins and clean sheets.

“He really is an absolute colossus at the back. He's everything we've missed whilst he's been out. He complements [Dion] Sanderson and [Matt] Clarke excellently.

“He's got a bit of everything. He can play the ball out. He's big and strong in the air. He's clever, he's quick, and he's just calm on the pitch.

“Also, he's a fans’ favourite because he loves to ruffle up the centre-forwards and the wingers.

“He's just everything you want to see on the pitch, and we're very lucky to have him.

“If he can stay fit, we've got a really, really top-class centre-half on our hands, one we’ll be lucky to keep if we don't go up ourselves over the next couple of years.

“So yeah, he's literally the glue that holds his team together, and hopefully he can stay fit for us because if he can, we've got a really good platform to build from.”

Derby County may well have a battle on their hands to hold the defender

Remarkably, having only joined from Norwegian side Viking in February this year for around £4m, Langas has only played 16 games for Derby so far - a figure that would have been higher had his start to this season not been delayed.

But the fact that he has, as Shaun describes, become a fan favourite in such a short amount of time is just more evidence of how talented Langas is, especially given that centre-back role can be one of the hardest positions to get noticed.

Still only 24 years old, he is young for the position too, meaning not only that he could be at the top level for another decade, but also that he’s got plenty of room to improve even further.

Derby were wise to this, and have put themselves in an incredible position. They’re already capitalising on Langas’ strong performances in the presence, but as his reputation grows, so does his price-tag.

When they signed him in January, Derby tied the defender down to a four-and-a-half-year deal, putting themselves in the driving seat for quite some time yet in terms of incoming bids.

Given the Rams are hovering just outside the relegation places as things stand, the sense already is Langas could quickly outgrow Pride Park, but the Norwegian could yet help pull them further up the table, before netting them some handsome profit further down the line.

Langas has already shown how important he is to Derby